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Tag Archives: University of California

Promising results from a small study may offer hope for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Researchers from the University of California – San Diego report dramatic improvement after treating MS patients with stromal vascular fraction (SVF) stem cells from a patient’s own body fat. They say the SVF therapy can limit the body’s immune system reaction and promote the growth of new myelin – the fatty “insulation” on axons in the brain, which breaks down in patients with MS.

“None of the presently available MS treatments selectively inhibit the immune attack against the nervous system, nor do they Read More…

With veterinarians across the country training to use stem cells for tendon and ligament repair, a professor at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) wants to take the technology a step further by applying them to chronic, cell-based diseases.

Richard Vulliet, DVM, is very early into the work. But he is optimistic about the evidence as it exists, of course, and he may have had a success.

Vulliet has treated four dogs with degenerative myelopathy with their own stem cells, which he prefers to call mesenchymal stem cells or pluripotent marrow stromal cells. The terminology has evolved and those names Read More…

A new technique has shown that allowing embryonic stem cell research and having laws that regulate and monitor this type of research does not prevent the development of less ethically controversial techniques, rather, it creates incentives for them. In Valencia, at the same clinic where the first Spanish embryonic stem cell lines were obtained, the same researcher who developed the lines has obtained embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryo.

The announcement was made by Carlos Simòn, making the Centro de Investigaciòn Prìncipe Felipe (CSPF) the third laboratory in the world Read More…

U.S. researchers have found that a supplemental protein may help restore impaired mobility of people who suffer from a stroke.
Naturally occurring in humans, the protein has proved to work well in restoring motor function in rats after a stroke, according to two new studies by researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI).
The researchers hope that the protein will also help humans.

Administered directly to the brain, the protein restores 99 percent of lost movement; if it’s given through the nose, 70 percent of lost movement is regained. Untreated rats improve by only 30 percent.

Stem cells from the brain could be transplanted into the ear to cure hearing loss.
Often, age and overstimulation can damage ciliated cells that act like small microphones, allowing us to hear sounds, noise, and voices and are located in the deep ear (cochlea). About 10% of people experience damage to the cells in this area which leads to hearing loss. The loss of these cells is irreversible, but according to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a group of scientists from the University of California substituted them with stem cells taken from another area Read More…

Some plastic surgeons have been using stem cells to treat aging, sun-damaged skin. But while they've been getting good results, it's been unclear exactly how these treatments work to rejuvenate 'photoaged' facial skin. A new study finds that within a few weeks, stem cell treatment eliminates the sun-damaged elastin network and replacing them with normal, […]

Stem cell researchers have designed a model of an early embryonic brain. The model will increase our understanding of how the human brain develops and can thereby help to accelerate the development of stem cell treatments for brain disorders such as Parkinson's disease, epilepsy and dementia.

Many patients with heart disease face limited treatment options. Fortunately, stem cell biology has enabled researchers to produce large numbers of cardiomyocytes, which may be used in drug screens and cell-based therapies. However, current image analysis techniques don't allow researchers to analyze heterogeneous, multidirectional, striated myofibrils typical of immature cells. Researchers showcase an algorithm that […]

Children born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy have a mutation in the X-chromosome gene that would normally code for dystrophin, a protein that provides structural integrity to skeletal muscles. The loss of this protein causes severe symptoms, including deteriorating muscle strength beginning around the age of four. While there is no cure, a promising area of […]

Researchers have used induced pluripotent stem cells produced from the skin of a patient with a rare, genetic form of insulin-dependent diabetes, transformed the stem cells into insulin-producing cells, used the CRISPR gene-editing tool to correct a defect that caused the diabetes, and implanted the cells into mice to reverse diabetes in the animals.

A new study has shown a common eye condition, glaucoma, could be successfully treated with a single injection using gene therapy, which would improve treatment options, effectiveness and quality of life for many patients.

Researchers are developing new 'gene promoters' - which act like switches to turn genes on - for use with gene therapy, the delivery of new genes to replace ones that are faulty. The new promoters work especially well for brain and other neurological disorders and provide longer-lasting functionality compared to other promoters.